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Lakshmi Building, Karachi...
The first high rise of Karachi – Lakshmi building was a five-storey tallest building before partition. Built for the 'Lakshmi Insurance Company,' it was designed by the Karachi-based firm Maysers D H Daruwala & Co. in the Art Deco style, while the Hindustan Construction Company was the contractor. The red bricks for the façade were imported from Jaipur at the request of the insurance company's owner Lala Lajpat Rai of Lahore.
It was inaugurated on Christmas Eve, 1938 by the Indian poet and political activist Sarojini Naidu (whose name was later removed from the plaque that commemorates the building's opening).
Originally, a statue of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi was placed on top of the building, before removal in 1947 at the time of independence, when the owner migrated to India and sold the firm to a Parsi businessman, with some of the Hindu residents killed in the ensuing riots.
The building was once known throughout Karachi for its state-of-the art clock-tower, and its iron elevator.
After the partition the city saw many high-rises built and got each other replaced. Qamar House succumbed to the height of Mohammadi House for a while until Habib Bank Plaza’s 311-feet high building literally concluded the race in 1963. The Plaza reigned for around four decades as the largest manmade structure in the country.
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